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'''The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints''', informally known as the '''LDS Church''' or '''Mormon Church''', is athe [[restorationist]],List [[nontrinitarianof denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|largest denomination]] in the [[Christians|ChristianLatter Day Saint movement]] denomination. The church is headquartered in the United States in [[Salt Lake City]], [[Utah]] and has established congregations and built [[Temple (LDS Church)|temples]] worldwide. According to the church, it has over 17 million [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership statistics|members]], over 99,000 [[Missionary (LDS Church)|volunteer missionaries]]<ref name="Current Statistics"/> and 350 [[List of temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|temples in total]].{{efn|{{LDS Temple status}}}} As of 2012, the church was the [[Christianity in the United States|fourth-largest Christian denomination]] in the U.S.<ref name="25large">{{cite web|url=https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/bridges/workshop12/187545.shtml|title=25 Largest Christian Denominations in the United States, 2012|publisher=[[Unitarian Universalist Association]]|access-date=September 29, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929030718/https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/bridges/workshop12/187545.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2023, the church reported [[Membership statistics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (United States)|over 6.8 million U.S. members]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Facts and Statistics - United States|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states|website=Newsroom |publisher= [[LDS Church]]|access-date=April 21, 2024 }}</ref> It is the [[List of denominations in the Latter Day Saint movement|largest denomination]] in the [[Latter Day Saint movement]].
The church was founded as the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]] in [[Burned-over district|western New York]], in 1830 by [[Joseph Smith]] during the [[Second Great Awakening]]. Under Smith's leadership, the church's headquarters moved successively to [[Kirtland, Ohio|Ohio]], [[Missouri]], and [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Illinois]]. After Smith's [[Killing of Joseph Smith|1844 death]] and a resultant [[Succession crisis (Latter Day Saints)|succession crisis]], the majority of his followers sided with [[Brigham Young]], who [[Mormon pioneers|led the church to its current headquarters]] in Salt Lake City. Young and his successors continued the church's growth, first throughout the [[Intermountain West]], and more recently as a national and international organization.
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